Industry is experiencing an ever-increasing demand for computational circuitry along with an ever-increasing demand for improved performance, greater integration, and lower cost. With such demand, there is an increasing desire to incorporate nonvolatile memory that exhibits high access rates, occupies little space, and exhibits low power consumption. Such non-volatile memory can be integrated with additional circuitry, such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a smart sensor, or other computational circuitries. Alternatively, such nonvolatile memory can be provided on a separate substrate accessible through a high-speed bus.
However, with increased integration comes an increase in cost, particularly in view of increased complexity and higher cost of defective parts. Furthermore, with increased integration, the process of forming such computational circuitries becomes more complicated and costly, particularly when the additional testing steps are performed on individual die. Moreover, space is limited on such integrated circuitry, particularly with modern commercial demands for smaller and more compact devices.
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